Editor's Comment

According to a new survey on the state of the security industry (yes, another new survey... where are they all coming from?), there are just too many small equipment suppliers to take full advantage of the digital revolution. The survey says the industry is "littered" with small companies that can't afford to capitalise on the massive switch to digital. A quick trek around this year's IFSEC would convince anyone that the survey is right on that point. You couldn't move for digital video recorders and IP network equipment. The biggest difficulty for installers is distinguishing between the many similar products on offer. Most manufacturers explain their products in unique terms as if they were the only company to be supplying the kit. Go to the next manufacturer and you'll find the same functions in a different box. The survey says that the only way for suppliers to capitalise on this massive potential growth market is by focusing on specialising in a particular field or forming alliances with other companies. This is already happening (see our news section this or any month for examples).

In an area where there is still a fair amount of confusion (IP more so than straight digital recording), many installers will do what they've always done and stick largely to the manufacturers they know. Why would you choose the product from a new or unknown supplier who may not survive the "revolution" or be able to offer good back-up, when there are so many known manufacturers and suppliers offering "cost effective" kit with established training and support? This is, indeed, an unusual industry where the top ten manufacturers take only 30 per cent of the systems business. As a result there is massive jockeying for position among the other manufacturers and we'll no doubt see many more partnerships forming between different manufacturers offering "total digital solutions".

One positive point to come out of this survey is that the markets for access control and CCTV are really opening up in many other countries as human rights concerns are overshadowed by increasing crime and threats of terrorism. The UK has always been a major market, making many other European countries' CCTV industries look piddling by comparison. (Why our human rights/privacy lobbies have been so feeble over the years is a mystery even to those in the industry!) If our neighbours overseas start to consume CCTV on anything like the scale of the UK then those UK suppliers jockeying for position here will start to look further afield.

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